4TP (PZInz 140)
In service Prototype only (1937) - 1939
Prototype only. A fast Polish light reconnaissance tank meant to replace the tankettes, cancelled by the outbreak of war with a single vehicle built.
Built byPanstwowe Zaklady Inzynierii (PZInz)
Photograph pending. No clearly licensed photograph of this vehicle was found.
Development history
By the mid-1930s Poland accepted that turretless tankettes had no future and asked PZInz for a proper turreted reconnaissance tank. The PZInz 140, army designation 4TP, was the answer: a compact two-man vehicle with a 20 mm autocannon in a rotating turret, torsion-bar suspension and a genuinely good power-to-weight ratio. Trials in 1937 and 1938 were promising and a series order was expected, but the army prioritised the heavier 7TP and then the 10TP, and only the prototype existed when Germany invaded. It is thought to have been used in the defence of Warsaw and then lost. No example survives.
Variants
One canonical record, 1 recorded variants.
PZInz 140 prototype
1937Single prototype with 20 mm autocannon in a rotating turret.
Notable actions
- Invasion of Poland (1939)